Spotlight on Somatic Psychotherapy
Somatic Psychology
This class is designed to introduce major principles of somatic psychology. Major topics in this field will be presented, as will experiential opportunities to learn techniques of somatic psychotherapy. We will build on these topics and experiences and reflect on them in light of the historical development of western somatic psychotherapy. Ethical considerations of experiential (mind/ body/spirit) psychotherapy will be addressed.
Proseminar in Somatic Psychology II
This class will explore family constellations and myths, including intra-personal, inter-personal and transpersonal dimensions. Mainly will be an experiential class, students will have the opportunity to explore, experience, and understand in an embodied way the many dimensions of our inner selves and how they interact currently and how they might interact in a more coherent manner. Through these experiences, students may learn how to work in an embodied way with ourselves and others using these dynamics. Examining these theories through a broader lens, students will then explore, experience, and understand in an embodied manner the family system dynamics in our own nuclear families, including past generations and the impact of these past generations on our present experience to learn how to work in an embodied manner with these family and generational dynamics with ourselves/ our systems and those of others. From this broadened perspective, students will then explore these concepts with regard to the transpersonal dimensions of our lives and how somatic theories may be utilized to work with these dynamics. The final element of the course will be to research what has been written in this field and an evaluation of the research projects that have been done to discern areas for further exploration.
Advanced Clinical Skills: Somatics I
This is a course which combines didactic elements with experiential learning. Students taking the course will have the opportunity to learn and practice basic therapeutic skills within the context of somatic psychotherapy. In addition, students will become familiar with and grow in using basic metaskills (tapping in to the subtle, energetic energy present within the therapist and therapeutic container) so important in acquiring the art of psychotherapeutic practice. The coursework will also encourage students to become familiar with the various uses of touch in somatic psychotherapy, the ethics of using touch and the contraindications of using touch in psychotherapeutic practice.
Somatic Psychology II: Abuse, Trauma, and PTSD survivors
This class will inquire: What does the research show and how do we develop effective treatment opportunities for clients suffering from past abuse, trauma, and PTSD? Class time will focus on the latest brain research and how this affects our treatment choices for PTSD clients. Through didactic teachings and in-class practice, students will learn how experience is processed on cognitive, emotional and sensory levels and the effects of unresolved sensorimotor reactions on all levels of information processing. Students will be taught the skill of learning how to differentiate which level of processing will most successfully support the movement through traumatic experience and successfully support the integration of this material. Examples of clinical populations with whom this work has been effective, e.g. victims of terrorism, abused infants and children, and accident survivors, will also be explored, including which treatment modality was most effective for each population.
Psychology of the Body
This course provides an experiential, historical, and theoretical base for body psychology and the field of body psychotherapy. Through readings and activities, students will explore the mind/body split and find ways to move toward deeper integration of mind, body, and spirit. Students will further reflect upon their personal lifestyle, and implement strategies for continued healthy living. Instruments and exercises will be provided that give students a look at the self, evaluate the balance or lack of it in one’s life, and help each student to assess the self and how s/he wishes to move toward better integration and life balance.
Research Group: Psychology of the Body & Psyche
The research group will explore the inter-connectedness of the body and psyche in healing and transformation. The end goal of this research group is to develop creative ideas, theory, and research topics which explore the body as an aspect of the psyche and the psyche made visible in the body. Rather than thinking of the body as utilitarian to mind and spirit¾literally its tool¾this research group will explore the body as a consciousness that seeks to heal the greater whole both of our individual psyches and the communal psyches in which we live. In this course, psyche includes the unconscious processes of individuals, relationships, communities, and our global home. More generally, this research group will explore the role of the body in consciousness and transformation.
Some of the specific topics we might explore are specific body states associated with levels of psycho-spiritual development; body-based memories; how traumatic body-memories are healed; the connection between the physical human body and the body of the earth; the nature of pilgrimage in various spiritual traditions; how physical spiritual practices change consciousness; and whether there is a teleological character to the consciousness of the body?
This research group on the Psychology of the Body & Psyche will begin with students assisting in the development and conduct of a current faculty research project, as appropriate and related to your own interests. Thereafter, students will be encouraged to design and conduct projects related to the role of the body in consciousness and transformation.
Bodywork Wisdom
Within the body is a latent wisdom that is greater than the sum of its instincts, and throughout time reveals itself in various circumstances under specific conditions. Two of those conditions are skilled touch and conscious breath. When employed skillfully, healing states of consciousness emerge along with that which needs to heal or become integrated into the fabric of unity.
This course is a survey of the possibilities that can develop when an individual can align their loving intent with their ability to manually touch another person with skillful means and cultivated intuition. The focus is upon the causal place in the physical body where unconscious beliefs, repressed memory, and charged unresolved emotional experience co-exist. The reactivity and dynamic tension are accessed through the breath, subtle energy fields, and deep tissue manipulation of the musculature. Participants will be exposed to a way of seeing the body’s biological defense system and conversely the undefended state where true human growth can occur.
The overarching objective is to cultivate in the student an appreciation that we are co-creative with source in the reframing of the human condition. Homo sapiens in modern times have had to wrestle with coarse instincts that revolve around fear-based perception. The end of violence in all its forms can only arise when we have fostered a new paradigm, one in which we perceive our world through a lens of love and peace.
Mind/Body Interventions in Health and Medicine
This course explores a variety of approaches in alternative healing and psychoneuroimmunology studies. The class will serve the twofold purpose of offering an overview of various mind/body interventions (therapies or treatments), and providing the opportunity to investigate at least four selected areas in some depth. Mind/body medicine, as it is frequently termed, includes a vast number of techniques, including biofeedback, various forms of relaxation and meditation, imagery, behavioral interventions, hypnosis, and the expressive or creative therapies, such as art, dance, drama and music. Touch or energy healing, the martial arts, and some somatic therapies, which have a rich heritage in various cultures and spiritual traditions, will also be sources of material for this course. The course focuses on areas of relevance and interest to clinicians and researchers who work or wish to work in health care settings. The material should also prove useful for those individuals who choose to be informed consumers of health care.
